


Unmasked

by DeadlyBingo



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Birthday, F/M, Fluff, Season 2, URT
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-09
Updated: 2016-08-09
Packaged: 2018-08-07 17:11:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7722913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeadlyBingo/pseuds/DeadlyBingo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oliver, Felicity and John have hit their stride as a team but when Oliver sees a discarded birthday card in Felicity’s office, he’s forced to question where his duties as a teammate end and his responsibilities as a friend begin (Takes place in early season 2).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unmasked

He had missed her birthday.  

The realization hit Oliver the moment he spotted the card sitting precariously at the top of Felicity’s trash bin. And not only had he _missed_ her birthday, but considering how their team had spent every night of the last 2 weeks in the lair, Oliver had most definitely asked her to _work_ on her birthday.  Yet somehow Felicity, the queen of filling any unnecessary silence, hadn’t said _a word_.  

Or, at least, Oliver _thought_ Felicity hadn’t said anything… Admittedly, he could be a little single-minded, especially when focused on a mission.  What if she _had_ said something, or even just hinted at it, and he had shrugged her off, focusing on cleaning his bow or pouring over old police reports?

Felicity didn’t acknowledge Oliver’s glance at the card, in fact, she barely seemed to notice his entrance as she eyed a long e-mail on her computer, chewing her bottom lip and hovering her fingers above the keyboard.

Though Oliver would never admit it to her, Felicity’s lack of fascination with him, the way she didn’t try to change herself around him, was one of his favorite qualities about her. From their very first meeting she had shown that she was brilliant, focused, and determined to constantly rise above and beyond expectations. And, just as importantly, she _knew_ it. Felicity’s confidence in her ability and in her instincts were some of the first reasons Oliver found himself tempted to trust her.  And he was right to trust her. Because as different as they were on the outside, they both wanted to make the world better.

It wasn’t until Felicity’s eyes reached the bottom of the screen that she finally swiveled her chair to face him, smiling in greeting before seeking confirmation that they’d be meeting at their usual time and place.

“Actually…” Oliver fought to keep his tone even (something that had always been a challenge when lying to Felicity), “I have dinner plans with my sister tonight, mind if we push it back to 9?”  

Felicity glanced around to ensure their coworkers had gone home before a small smile appeared on her pink lips. “That just means a longer nap between jobs so I’m _all_ for it.  See you and John then.”

Oliver paused, “Actually… John won’t be in tonight. Remember he said something about seeing his nephew’s play? It’s just us tonight if that’s okay?”

“As long you won’t be running into anything too dangerous on your _own_. John says I’m still kind of hopeless at throwing a punch and he’ll be upset if we have to call him to save you. Then he would never know if Dorothy gets out of Oz!”

“Judging by the elementary school plays I saw when Thea was little, he may actually send someone after me so he has an excuse to leave.”

Felicity pursed her lips, raising her eyebrows in a silent challenge. For someone who directly supported his dangerous activities, Felicity sure liked to chastise him about being careful.

Oliver couldn’t help but smirk. “Nothing _too_ dangerous… That’s the plan at least.”

“ _Famous last words_.”

“I’ve said worse. I recall once saying something about a storm not taking down a yacht?”

A laugh escaped Felicity’s lips and Oliver had to bite back his own smile. Rumors had already started to circulate about how often he was spending time with the blonde IT girl who was magically promoted to his executive assistant. Although Felicity never mentioned the rumors, he was sure the comments had to bother her; she deserved to be known for more than being Oliver Queen’s flavor of the week.  Especially since she never had, and never would, _actually_ sleep with him.

 “I should really head home now. Plans and all. Um, thanks for your help, Ms. Smoak,” Oliver’s voice shifted as another employee walked in, blush flooding her cheeks as she plopped a large stack of papers on Felicity’s desk, never taking her eyes off Oliver.

“No problem, _Mr. Queen,_ ” Felicity said, raising her voice slightly as she turned back to her computer.  “And I’ll be sure to stop in your office tomorrow to help you _change your screensaver_.”

Oliver shook his head as he turned toward the elevators. After spending so much time in the IT department over the past few months, words around the company was that his years on the island had made Oliver Queen completely hopeless with technology. And though Felicity knew this wasn’t quite true, she did enjoy playing into the few rumors that didn’t focus on her.

The elevator door opened with a chime and Oliver stepped inside, giving Felicity one last wave and causing the young woman who had been gawking at him to finally turn and acknowledge Felicity’s presence.

 But once the doors closed, Oliver shoved his hands into his pockets, craning his neck to look to the ceiling. Sure he could have checked the employee database and found out her birthday earlier, but normally, as his EA, it was Felicity who mentioned birthdays or anniversaries to him. He had zero reason to suspect her birthday was any time soon. _Especially_ since she didn’t seem at all upset with him.  Not like his sister or Laurel, both of whom would have given him hell for missing either of their birthdays.

If anything, Felicity had hid the information, probably assuming their work to protect Starling was more important. But in her defense, it’s not like Oliver had ever given her any reason to feel otherwise. How many times had he asked her to put her personal life to the side for the the city? For him?

But it couldn’t stay that way.  At least not for _her_.

 

* * *

 

“Sorry I’m late!” Felicity yelled over the sound of her heals descending the metal staircase.  “I forgot to set my alarm and completely passed out re-watching an old episode of _Pitbulls and Parolees_. Which is an _awesome_ show by the way! I think you’d identify with the whole tortured souls trying to do good thing. And it also make me think that we should totally adopt a dog for team Arrow. I mean, I know you don’t like that name, Team Arrow, but think about how _great_ a dog would be! They’re natural stress relievers.  And he could protect the base and we could train him to collect your arrows whenever you miss! Not that you miss a ton. Your ability to hit the perfect spot in intense situations is _quite_ impressive, actually-”

 Felicity rushed past Oliver, who remained standing awkwardly in the middle of the room, and threw her jacket over her station’s chair.  As she pulled her hair back into a ponytail, signaling her transition into ‘work mode,’ she switched over to ‘work’ talk without skipping a beat. “So where are we? I know I had a search running to try to locate that guy from last night but since I never got an alert, it’s safe to assume my facial recognition program never found a match on any of the city’s cameras.  The guy must have gone underground since your altercation.  Criminals tend to do that after being shot in the knee with an arrow.  But I bet he’s trying to hire some new security so maybe if we focused on searching the dark web-”

 “Well, um, Felicity…” Oliver stumbled through his words, raising his voice to interrupt Felicity’s monologue.  But as her voice faded away, Oliver realized he hadn’t thought what he’d say next. Normally, he didn’t _have_ to think about what he’d say.  His blue blood upbringing and well trained social customs would always kick in at times like this. The charm turned on, the smile would appeared and, in the end, girls swooned.  Since high school, that’s just what _happened_.

 But _not_ with Felicity.  

Oliver had quickly noticed that when he put his high society mask on, when he turned into the old _Ollie_ , she immediately pulled back. She wasn’t as open, as trusting, as genuine. She wasn’t _herself_ when Oliver wasn’t being himself. And he didn’t want that to happen right now.   _Especially_ not when he was already trying to apologize for missing her birthday.

 “I saw the card,” Oliver spat out. When Felicity turned back to face him, her head tilted, he continued. “The company birthday card, the one everyone in your department signs, I saw it in your trash.  You didn’t tell-” Felicity’s eyebrows raised and Oliver pressed his lips together before correcting himself. “I mean, _I_ didn’t know that I missed it. I wouldn’t have made you work last Friday if I had known… or at least I would have brought a gift or something...”

 A hint of natural pink blended in with Felicity’s blush before she shook it away and joked, “What else would a girl want to do for her birthday than listening to N*SYNC while you and John sit around and talk about guy stuff on a stake out?”

“Felicity…" 

Felicity shot Oliver a guilty smile before clarifying, “Really, Oliver… It’s _not_ a big deal. Let’s not worry about that. There are other, much more important, things to do.”

 Oliver wasn’t sure how to argue with her, so instead he channeled what Diggle would do with him.  He crossed his arms and waited.  And after a moment, Felicity let out a sigh.

 “I know you don’t know my mom, but she’s _super_ into birthdays. Anything with a party really. But since we couldn’t always afford something big, I got used to downplaying them as a kid. It made it easier on her not to think she had to rent a bowling alley or buy me a ton of presents every year. At some point it just… I guess my disinterest in the day became more real? Then at MIT I was a lot younger than many of the other kids, so my friend group was pretty small. We’d usually just do dinner or something. After that I moved out here and I just… I don’t know? I just let it pass this year?  We had much more important things going on.”

 Oliver raked his fingers through his hair. “You should have…” He stopped, once again correcting himself. “I _wish_ you had told me- I mean _us_.  Don’t think I’m holding this information back just because Diggle isn’t here for cake.”

 “Cake?” Felicity glanced quickly around the room, a hint of a smile on her lips. “Any chance it’s from that bakery around the corner? I _dream_ about their cupcakes at least once a week.”

 “Actually… I made it…. But I can go get one-” Oliver’s brain went into problem-solving mode.  The bakery was definitely closed but maybe he could always break in? They probably had some cakes ready for the next day and he’d leave the money on the counter. Or he could just call the owner, God knows his name alone would have them rushing to bake something fresh. Something far better than _anything_ he could have produced.

 “ _You_ made a cake?” Felicity’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, but her lips lifted into a smirk as she teased, “Or _Raisa_ made a cake?”

 “Me. Just me. I mean it’s from a _box_ , and it took 2 tries since apparently adding olive oil is _not_ the same as vegetable oil.  But to be fair, I didn’t worry so much about tastes back on the island. Just that is was edible. Or, in some cases, my standard was simply that it wouldn’t poison me.”

 “You made me a cake…” Felicity repeated slowly before asking, “Do you even bake? Or cook for that matter?”

 “Never had to,” Oliver shrugged, shuffling slightly in place. He didn’t expect this to be so awkward. He wasn’t used to birthday parties that included any fewer than 100 people.  Maybe he should have organized something? It wouldn’t have been too hard to pull a surprise party together over the weekend.  He still could...

 Felicity bit her lip, looking down to her lap before looking back up with a big smile that washed away any doubt Oliver had about his decision. “I could _always_ go for some cake, where is this thing?”

Oliver didn’t even get a chance to point out the cake before Felicity was up, crossing the room and grabbing the tin foil covered platter off the counter.

“Don’t get your hopes up, Felicity…” Oliver warned as she pulled up the cover to reveal the small round cake.  But her immediate smile, her _genuine_ excitement, was more than Oliver ever could have hoped for.

“This icing is _perfect_ Oliver.  I mean, I knew you were a perfectionist Oliver but _wow_. And did you place these sprinkles individually?!  They’re way too even to be accidental. This looks so much nicer than that time I tried to mix an entire cake in a ziplock bag in college because I couldn’t find a bowl.”

 Oliver just smirked, trying not to give away just how long he took to get that icing so perfect (especially since it was covering up for the chunks of cake that had broken off after he forgot to grease the pan for the 2nd attempt).  But in reality, the entire process included just as much frustration and cursing as the first time he tried to shoot a bow.

“Do we have any plates?” Felicity asked, excitedly bouncing in place as she looked back to him, her eyes scanning the bare counters.

Oliver sucked in air through clenched teeth. “Plates? That would have been a good idea. Again, something I didn’t worry about on the island.”

“No worries!” Felicity quickly ran back to her desk, pulling a box of plastic utensils from her drawer.  “We’ll just eat it like this!  I _may_ not have lived on an island, but just wait till you meet Donna Smoak. I know how to rough it too. I mean, not that you’ll ever meet Donna Smoak.   _I_ barely ever-” Felicity stopped suddenly, shaking her head before pasting on a smile. “You know what? Let’s focus on _cake_ instead of my insane family history.”

Felicity tossed Oliver a plastic fork before plopping down in her chair and rolling over to the cake.  She didn’t hesitate before sticking her fork right into the center and pulling out a big bite.

“This is actually _really_ good,” Felicity observed, a hint of surprise in her voice as she scooped up another forkful of icing.  She covered her mouth as she mumbled, “Maybe you should become a chef if the whole CEO slash vigilante thing doesn’t work out.”

“Yeah,” Oliver held back an eyeroll. “Right after I’ve cleaned up Starling I’ll live in a 3 bedroom house with a white picket fence, have 2.5 kids, and adopt a dog.”

Oliver expected Felicity to laugh but instead she just shrugged, taking another bite of cake before mumbling, “You _never_ know. Bet you never expected to live on an island or learn Russian either.”

Oliver took a tentative bite of the cake, ensuring to begin eating from the opposite side as Felicity.  It wasn’t perfect, Felicity was definitely exaggerating about how good it was, but it also wasn’t terrible. As he went for another bite he mumbled, “I’m going to need to get on the Salmon ladder after this.”

“ _Happy birthday to me_.”

 The words clearly escaped Felicity’s lips before she’d thought them through because within seconds her fork was down and both hands were covering her face. “What I meant _was_ -” Felicity began to mumble through her hands but Oliver cut her off.

Oliver couldn’t help himself, his reply almost instinctual. “Don’t worry about it, Felicity. It’s human nature to appreciate _perfection_.”

Felicity lowered her hands, making sure Oliver could see her dramatic eyeroll. “Next year I want it in a shape,” Felicity determined, changing the subject before the previous conversation went too far. “Like… a panda? Or a unicorn! Do you think you could make a panda riding a unicorn?”

Oliver almost choked on his bite of cake. “This is becoming an _annual_ thing?”

“Oh yeah, you set yourself up for that one, Queen. Every year I’m expecting double chocolate cake. No other presents needed or even wanted.”

Oliver glanced down to the now half-eaten cake. Felicity's words felt like a challenge. He could definitely do better next year. “I think I can arrange that. What about in the shape of a kangaroo next year?”

“Not funny.”

 “What? Thea said I needed to work on making better jokes? I’m just following her advice.”

 Felicity shook her head before asking, “Were you actually supposed to have dinner with Thea tonight? Is she mad at you for cancelling again?”

 “Yeah but I doubt she’s mad. She probably just assumes I’m chasing some girl I haven’t told her about yet.”

 Felicity furrowed her brow, growing quiet before suddenly inquiring, “What will you do when you _actually_ try to settle down with a girl? I mean, sure the whole man-whore cover really helps explain why you disappear at night and where all your gnarly bruises come from.  And it’s totally my go-to excuse whenever someone asks where you’ve disappeared to. But _eventually_ you’ll find some nice brilliant, ass-kicking model to settle down with and you’ll need a new cover story.”

 Oliver’s stomach clenched.  He had avoided even thinking about that problem since his return.  Probably because, on some level, he hadn’t considered a future where he didn’t eventually lose one of his battles.  All of his mentors had at some point, so why would he expect to be any different?

 But Felicity mentioned the future so casually, so surely, that realized that his surviving wasn’t an _if_ in her mind, it was a when.  And somehow she even thought he would get a happily ever after.

 “I haven’t really gotten that far.” He finally answered, giving himself more time by dragging a stool over and placing beside Felicity before continuing. “There’s already _way_ too much chaos and lying in my life right now to actually have anything _real_.  I’m probably at about as much as I can handle right now.”

 Felicity nodded slowly, catching her bottom lip between her teeth. Though Oliver had gotten better at reading her silence, this time he wasn’t quite sure what was going on in her mind. He had started to prepare himself for a lecture when suddenly she broke out with,  “If I eat this whole thing, John can _never_ know about it.”

 Oliver winked in agreement as he picked up his own fork once more and proceeded to dig in.  He was fine with keeping these few moments to himself. It wasn’t often he got to take a night off, to stop worrying about the past, his family, the city. To stop feeling like the weight of the world was not only on his back, but dragging him down to Hell. He craved to spend just one night without any kind of mask, figurative or literal. It was more than he knew he deserved, but just this once, he was just going to enjoy it.


End file.
